SPOILERS Fire and Brimstone - question about civilian radar

Command: Northern Inferno is a DLC for Command: Modern Operations. Set in 1975, the Cold War is omnipresent and beneath the veneer of détente the tension between the two superpowers irreversibly escalate towards the ultimate confrontation.

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ColonelMolerat
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SPOILERS Fire and Brimstone - question about civilian radar

Post by ColonelMolerat »

I reported this, mistakenly, as a bug, but it leads me to a related question.

In the mission 'Fire and Brimstone' there is a contact, the 'Castro'. It is a Cuban Commercial Supply Vessel. Normally, these Commercial Supply Vessles have only a generic radar, but in this scenario it has been given a 'Don Kay [Volga] Radar'. Normally (I assume from the Contact Report), this is only used by Kresta or Kanin warships.

In this case, I was worried it had a snazzy radar so that it could spy on me for the Soviets, so I sunk it.

What's the normal 'procedure' for this kind of situation? Do you get innocent uses for commercial ships with military radars, or was I right to be suspicious?
mikmykWS
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RE: SPOILERS Fire and Brimstone - question about civilian radar

Post by mikmykWS »

My approach would have been to scout the target out first.

Mike
ColonelMolerat
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RE: SPOILERS Fire and Brimstone - question about civilian radar

Post by ColonelMolerat »

Sorry, I should clarify - I did scout the target out first, I identified it as the Commercial Supply Vessel before sinking it.

It was a Soviet ('commercial') ship emitting what I took to be a military radar (that isn't normally on commercial ships, in the database at least), right next to my carrier group. I worried it could be a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing, spying on me for the Soviets. It hadn't initiated any aggressive action, but I was worried it would give my position away, so I sunk it.

I was wondering if this was in any way a valid call... Or am I some kind of war criminal now? [:(]
mikmykWS
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RE: SPOILERS Fire and Brimstone - question about civilian radar

Post by mikmykWS »

Maybe but in the context of that storyline I think you'll be ok.

Mike
Rory Noonan
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RE: SPOILERS Fire and Brimstone - question about civilian radar

Post by Rory Noonan »

I would have done the same thing. Shadowers are fair game; I think there was a few attacks on Argentine merchant-type ships as well as civilian type aircraft that were engaged in recon/espionage.

In the context of a nuclear war you're asking for it mounting a military radar on your container ship and following around a CVBG
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AlGrant
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RE: SPOILERS Fire and Brimstone - question about civilian radar

Post by AlGrant »

It hadn't initiated any aggressive action, but I was worried it would give my position away, so I sunk it.

I was wondering if this was in any way a valid call... Or am I some kind of war criminal now?

Perfectly valid call!

The Northern Inferno scenarios have some associated files, these include various OPTASK messages.
If you check the OPTASK ASUW it tells you (Section 2):
"IN THE CASE OF OPPONENT NON-COMBATANTS, THE ELIMINATION OF THE ABILITY TO TRANSMIT TARGETING DATA FULFILS THIS OBJECTIVE"

If it was close to your group then it could certainly pass positional/targeting info, even with just a basic nav radar and a radio. Sinking it is a pretty effective way of preventing this [:D]

I almost always read the associated OPTASK documents, not only do they set the scene quite well but they give a good initial threat assessment (although there are quite a few typo and copy & past errors) on what units and weapon systems you can expect.

The OPTASK AAW includes criteria like "HOSTILE/ANY UNKNOWN AIR CONTACTS WITHIN 200NM CLOSING THE FORCE AT SPEEDS OVER 400KTS" - Based on that I often manually designate certain bogeys as hostile .... never miss identified or shot down a friendly or neutral yet!





GOD'S EYE DISABLED.
ColonelMolerat
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RE: SPOILERS Fire and Brimstone - question about civilian radar

Post by ColonelMolerat »

Hehe, cheers everyone!

Looks like I'll be cleared of warcrimes! Unless we lose the war, of course...!

AlGrant - I didn't know about those OPTASK documents! I'll be sure to read those in the future! Are they used for anything in-game? There's a hell of a lot of lingo in them I don't understand.
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AlGrant
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RE: SPOILERS Fire and Brimstone - question about civilian radar

Post by AlGrant »

There's no direct effect on the scenario or scoring and the info they contain will depend on what the scenario author includes. I think only Northern Inferno has them and there is no link to them from the briefings (which is a pity).

Yes, there is a lot of jargon in them and much of it won't have an impact on game play, but there are bits you can pull out if the author has included it that can help with initial planning.

GOD'S EYE DISABLED.
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